Skip to main content

Siemens to upgrade Santa Clara light rail

Siemens has been chosen by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), a US independent special district that provides sustainable, accessible, community-focused transportation options for Santa Clara County, California, to provide innovative electrification technology to power the Guadalupe Corridor light rail line. VTA’s infrastructure modernisation will replace 27-year-old systems with Siemens’ new technology that includes advanced monitoring and diagnostic features to streamline maintenance a
March 17, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
189 Siemens has been chosen by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), a US independent special district that provides sustainable, accessible, community-focused transportation options for Santa Clara County, California, to provide innovative electrification technology to power the Guadalupe Corridor light rail line. VTA’s infrastructure modernisation will replace 27-year-old systems with Siemens’ new technology that includes advanced monitoring and diagnostic features to streamline maintenance activities.

The new technology includes traction power substations that convert alternating current electricity provided by the local utility to direct current in order to power the light rail trains, modern protection communication devices and circuit breakers and controllers that monitor the system and report issues if they arise. These systems can detect faults sooner and minimise stress on the line, resulting in a longer vehicle lifecycle.

Siemens will be responsible for the full delivery of the project from design and production to final commissioning, including all elements of preparing the site and replacing the old existing traction power substations that converts electric power for the vehicles. Commissioning is scheduled to begin in November 2017.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Case study highlights model-practices for highway security
    October 8, 2015
    A US$229 million Costain construction site along 14 kilometres of highway has provided material for a model-practice case study issued by UK-based security solution provider VPS Site Security. The Heads of Valleys road follows the southern boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales and is undergoing a major improvements scheme. It presents a significant engineering and environmental challenge to secure safely, including heavy traffic, remote and difficult terrains with numerous access po
  • Indra’s railway control technology to be installed on Spanish rail lines
    July 22, 2014
    Indra is to deploy its advanced railway control, security and signalling technology on the high-speed rail lines between Valladolid and Leon and Venta de Baños and Burgos in Spain. The contract, worth more than US$47 million also includes facility maintenance. Indra will deploy the centralised traffic control system on the new line, together with auxiliary detection systems and security sensor concentrators, based on an innovative Indra safety platform. This is the vital processing system that guarantee
  • Cable cars come of age in trans-continental expansion
    April 30, 2015
    David Crawford explores a high-level option of public transport. Sharing its origin with that of ski lifts at winter sports resorts in the European Alps, urban aerial cable transport is attracting growing interest as a low-footprint, low-energy alternative to conventional public transport that can swoop over ground-level traffic congestion.
  • US city upgrades traffic management with McCain
    May 7, 2014
    As part of a city-wide effort to modernise its infrastructure, the City of Palmdale, California has selected McCain’s Transparity TMS to update the City’s central traffic management software. Transparity TMS will replace McCain’s first-generation central software, which the City of Palmdale has been utilising since 2003.